Yea, and in the year two thousand and eleven the Michigan Wolverines perceived the New Orleans Bowl and said amongst themselves "shall we not take for ourselves what Troy's punter has shown to be good?"

The mouth of the horse. Ohio State fans have suddenly found that it's not nice when your opposition says mean things about you and takes your recruits. Or they've learned to complain about the former instead of the latter no matter the facts on the ground, anyway. Kyle Kalis:

"…[Hoke] has never said anything even remotely close to (negative) about Ohio State.

“People think that he does all of this negative recruiting, but he does no such thing. Any time my dad brought up anything about Ohio State, coach would actually stop him and say ‘I’m not going to say anything about that situation. It’s unfortunate and I hope they can get over this hump.’ ”

Kalis has been manipulated. Keep that in mind. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom!

Somebody should do a survey. I'm guessing ND is in last by a considerable margin and that 90% of all redneck-tastic Michigan tattoos focus on OSU.

Your lying eyes. I usually forward along all history-related questions to MVictors, as they are specialists. This edition of mailbag by proxy involves the colors on Michigan's uniform and is actually double-proxied since Greg pinged uniform maven Steve Sapardanis for a comprehensive answer:

Disclaimer Let’s get this out of the way first: never, ever, ever go by the color you see of pics online, in mags/programs or even in photos – see these Harbaugh photos as reference:

These two pics are from the same game, maybe even the same play, maybe even the same photographer (probably not), but notice the difference in colors.

Everything you wanted to know about Michigan's maize and more at the link.

Understatement. Rod Beard sat down with the entire basketball coaching staff for an extensive interview. Here's John Beilein doing his best George Clooney:

Q: I know you can't talk about specific recruits — even ones who have verbally committed — but how do you feel about your recruiting efforts this summer?

Beilein: I'll just say we're getting very positive feedback.

Indeed. I'm not sure just how up to date Beard is on Michigan's recent efforts, though:

Q: Is it a philosophical choice to go after unrated recruits and help make them a better players?

Beilein: As you're building a program, there's a plan that you gradually go in that direction, but you have to get solid first. In the recruiting wars, if you go after only the top-50 guys and you aren't successful, the No. 51-150 guys are long gone when you turn back. It's better to set your sights and then build a program so you get guys who have a high ceiling and in time will develop. Tim Hardaway Jr. is a great example of a guy who barely makes the top 100 — but now, he's one of the top 10 in the country out of that class. We're never going to say that we don't want to recruit a top-50 guy. If he fits what we're looking for, we'll recruit him.

The last unrated guy to commit to Michigan was Max Bielfeldt; right now the 2012 and 2013 classes are all four-star sorts. Hit the link for Bacari Alexander praising Beilein's "ability to be human." Good job, lizard coach from the fifth dimension!

Certainly looks like a Beilein big what with the driving to the bucket from the perimeter. Usually Michigan won't offer-offer until you get to campus-campus, which Wood hasn't yet. Michigan probably gave him the nudge-nudge wink-wink about it and they reported it as an offer, but Mitch McGary is supposedly planning another visit to Ann Arbor on or around Labor Day.

So: Michigan is definitely trying to fill their 2012 spot.

Movement. Sense? It seems this edition of the periodic NCAA let's-fix-everything tribunals may actually create a significant change in the organization, at least as it pertains to basketball recruiting. "Consensus was reached on some aspects of a new recruiting model," those being:

A start date for official visits beginning after the men’s basketball championship in April of the junior year.

Deregulating the type of communication between coaches and prospects (including text messaging and other forms of electronic communication).

Allowing unlimited communication after Aug. 1 before the junior year in high school.

Permitting evaluations at certified nonscholastic events on two weekends in April, with some restrictions.

Permitting some contact at a prospect’s educational institution in conjunction with an evaluation, with some restrictions and requirements.

Somewhere, Kelvin Sampson is weeping into a Western omelet.

Both Eamonn Brennan and The Bylaw Blog rush to heap praise on this hypothetical model where coaches and recruits can approach each other like people instead of anonymous partners in a secretive arranged marriage. Brennan:

The NCAA might not be ready to let coaches talk to recruits year-round. Nor is it ready to totally reconsider its system. But it is beginning to make some serious progress, and that progress continued with the Leadership Council Friday. Incremental though it might be, at least it's a step in the right direction, right?

John Infante:

So for the Leadership Council’s top-to-bottom review of the men’s basketball recruiting model to wrap up within a year is a small victory for Division I’s governance structure. The results of that review are even more encouraging.

Infante also mentions a new provision for "on campus evaluations"—tryouts—as the most important change. Beneficiaries of this hypothetical new system:

The model, with the NABC’s limited tryout rule, would greatly favor coaching staffs who can make good evaluations during the spring and summer before a prospect’s junior year.

Sounds good if John Beilein's your coach, yes?

Meanwhile, 50 superfriends gather… The NCAA is also collecting its presidents together today and tomorrow to have one of those serious discussions that usually don't lead anywhere. Everyone Gregg Krupa tried to talk to said "NCAA? Never heard of it" except Mary Sue Coleman:

"This intertwining of intercollegiate athletics with universities in the United States is unique in the world, but we risk losing it if it is not done with transparency and integrity and if people believe it is not being done by the rules," said Coleman, who can not attend the retreat because of prior commitments. "I am very hopeful we'll stay on course with this, and the meeting in Indianapolis is an important part of that."

College football's scandal epidemic and rattling from the Big Ten and SEC about upping scholarship rewards, increasing academic standards, and maybe not booting kids to South Alabama after a season do provide a background in which Actual Reform is possible. The new, far less restrictive basketball recruiting model is an indication things might get done.

They'd be in these areas:

Establishing the success of athletes in the classroom as an expectation, rather than a goal. [Ed: A toothier APR?]

Protecting integrity by retaining amateurism, evaluating and improving the behavior of athletes and enhancing enforcement.

Strengthening the fiscal viability of sports by reducing disparities in revenues, spending and subsidies.

I'm not sure how the hell they propose to do anything about the third.

I actually have a funny story from this weekend. I threw a kegger at my house, and one of the guests is a known OSU fan. There were probably about 25 people there, and we finished our half barrel by the end of the night. The OSU fan and I were the only ones awake at the time the keg was finally finished, so "extremely intoxicated" could certainly describe both of us relatively accurately. I went to bed, because it was about 6 in the morning. However, I awoke around 7 to see Mr. OSU fan pissing on my bedside table in a drunken stupor, not realizing he wasn't in the bathroom. The kicker of it all, he was pissing on my Block M wallet. I guess it doesn't just happen on tattoos...

Thankfully everything in my wallet was fine, though I did go to M Den and buy a new one yesterday.

I love it when tattoos provide evidence on the intelligence of their wearer. Also, did he pay for it? I'm guessing he traded sigs for advice on tattoo design. If he did, he got great value for that sig... Lol seriously please ban tattoos for college players kthnxbei

As someone who has played that game before, using old pictures of Rob Lytle, compared to new pictures of Desmond/Braylon/Denard to prove the point about the evolving "Maize," I am forced to admit that photos can play Pantone tricks.

These are the true, abiding principles, to end any tailgate argument about Michigan's Maize:

First, our Maize really has changed over the years. I actually think the changes are more dramatic than Sapardanis admits to. I have seen Michigan teams, live, going back to the 1960's. The changes have been gradual, but very real. "Maize" got a little brighter in the 70's, and then some more in the late 80's, and again in this century.

Second, our Maize was never changed noticeably, by any switch to or from any uniform-maker. The myths that Nike or adidas changed our colors or that they have special patents or trademarks on colors are all false.

Undoubtedly one of the reasons for the brighter newer Maize pantones is that they photograph better. And that fact is sort of alluded to by Mr. Sapardanis, in which he demonstrates how different photography/developing/printing can change the hue of Harbaugh's uniform, for example. Michigan's old "Maize" from the 40's to the 60's looked almost golden brown in some photography. Part of that is what the colors really were. Another part of that is what photography does to varying shades of "Maize." Much of photgraphy, and particularly older television pictures, tended to make our Maize look darker than it really was. It still can, under some circumstances. That, I think, is part of the motivation, but I've never heard anybody speak to that factor directly and authoritatively.

Worthy's tattoo is just funny. It reminds me of political cartoons where the cartoonist feels the need to label everything in the cartoon so that the humor can be understood by even the most idiotic of readers. In Worthy's case, considering the MSU crowd that is the target market for his "statement," making his tattoo inaccurate so as to be more comprehensible by morons was probably a smart move.

Marshall Wood looks really, really impressive in the video highlights. Very athletic - jumping, running the floor, finishing. And he can put the ball down on the floor and move to the basket as well. Hard to believe he isn't rated. Mr. Wood will be one to watch for sure. Also, it's great to hear McGary is coming for a 2nd visit. That HAS to be a good sign, that at least we may very well be in his final group.

It's not entirely accurate to say Wood is unrated. ESPN currently has him as a three-star and Scout as a two-star. It is true he's not in anyone's top 100 or 150 right now—so maybe he could be said to be "unranked." But after the stellar AAU season he's had, there's a good chance he might find his way into the rankings once they're revised.